"Only after the last tree has been cut down, Only after the last river has been poisoned, Only after the last fish has been caught, Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten." - Cree Indian Prophecy

Budweiser

Rapper Jay Z hasn’t been in the spotlight as much as his diva wife, Beyonce, recently, but that certainly hasn’t hurt him. The couple’s overall net worth is up over $1 billion. Of course, most people won’t even see that much money in a lifetime let alone in their relatively short amount of time being in the business. What does it take to have a net worth like Jay Z?

The couple has seemingly taken the world by storm. With Beyonce’s net worth sitting at a pretty $450 million and her husband’s net worth at $650 million, they are on top of the world. As a couple, they are worth over $1 billion. This may explain why the couple has stuck together so long in a seemingly unhappy relationship.

Jay Z and Bey started out in the 90s. Rapper Jay Z made his debut on the scene in 1996 and he’s been making music and has been dominating the business. Though this writer think he should hurry up and retire, Jay Z holds the record for the most Platinum albums among rappers (15 of them). This is more than Kanye West, OutKast and even Snoop Dogg. The rapper was also the president of Def Jam for some time. During his time as president, he signed singer Rihanna (good move, Jay Z, good move). He has sold millions of albums and even went on tour with his wife in 2015. Their tour together brought in around $5 million per night.

As most businesspeople know, having a diverse portfolio is important. Beyonce and Jay Z have definitely done that for themselves. He has also made some lucrative business deals that have greatly affected his net worth. He sold his clothing line (Rocawear) in 2007 for $204 million. He also signed a deal with Live Nation that gained him $150 million.

The rapper has also started his own hospitality club (the 40/40 club). There are locations in Manhattan, the Barclays Center and the Atlanta airport. He also founded Roc Nation. Roc Nation does a bit of everything: talent management, music publishing, touring, film and television, a music label and other business ventures. Roc Nation has a pretty large talent base including Kanye West, Big Sean, Rihanna Meek Mill, Fabolous and (of course) Jay Z.

In addition to those things, Jay Z also has a stake in the Nets basketball team. He bought $1 million worth of shares and later sold his shares to start Roc Nation Sports. Roc Nation Sports represents professional athletes like Kevin Durant, Justise Winslow and James Young.

There is still more! He had (and sold) a clothing company, his own talent agency, a deal with Live Nation, his own club chain and his own sports agency. He also has a streaming service called Tidal. The service has both scripted and unscripted programming. Many of the talents of Roc Nation debut their albums on Tidal. And, just for good measure, he also bought his favorite champagne’s brand (Armand de Brignac).

As if that wasn’t enough, the rapper has also endorsed (and signed deals with) Bing, Budweiser, Carol’s Daughter, Hewlett-Packard, Samsung Galaxy and Hublot. Then, you also have the marriage to Beyonce, which has been rumored to be a publicity scam, to bring his overall net worth to over $1 billion when they are married (though there are rumors that divorce papers surfacing).

So, if you wanna be rich like Jay Z, all you need is talent (that’s debatable) and a diverse business portfolio. Go out and make yourself the next Jay Z or Queen Bee and rule the world!